How to Decide Which Programs Open at Windows Start up?

As you install more and more programs, computer games and other software applications on Windows, each of them creates a new entry in Windows startup. The Windows startup utility decides which programs will automatically start whenever you boot Windows.

If you have installed a whole lot of applications e.g. IM programs, email client, browsers, screensaver application etc, chances are that your computer starts very slowly. Another annoyance is the number of unwanted opened windows, which pops up every time you start windows.

Some programs may or may not associate themselves with Windows startup and there is nothing you can do to prevent them from creating a startup entry during the installation. However, there is a simple way to block autorun procedures of such programs from the Windows system configuration utility.

Here is how to fix the issue:

1. Click Windows start menu and type “msconfig” in the search box.

2. This will open the startup configuration Window, which looks like the following:

3. Navigate to the “Startup” tab and you will see the following window:

The program names are listed in the far left column and there is a checkbox right next to each program. Uncheck the programs which you do not want to autorun whenever your computer boots up. After unchecking the programs, you will see the following window:

4. Now navigate to the “Services” tab to disable loading of unwanted processes during Windows startup. Some of the common examples are Active X installer, Java, Google Update and so on.

5. Before unchecking any of the services, be sure to select the checkbox which says “Hide all Microsoft Services”. This will hide all the services by Microsoft which is required for proper functioning of Windows

You may choose to disable a few microsoft services as well, but this is certainly not recommended. Do this, if you know what you are doing.

6. After that, you will be asked to restart windows for the changes to take effect. Save any open document that you were working on and click the “Restart” button to restart Windows.

7. After Windows restart, you will notice that the undesired programs or services are no longer opening on their own. You may see another program window with a prompt “You have used the System configuration utility to make changes to the way windows starts”

Select the checkbox “Don’t show this message or launch the System configuration utility when Windows starts”. Then click “OK”.

Unfortunately, there is no way to backup the customized settings of system configuration utility. You have to do this manually, if you perform a clean system format at a later point of time.